Taron

^^ You can usualy find some good deals on dutch/belgium sites, like this one for example 37,50€: http://www.funticket.be/index-nl.aspx They might do some location checks. I didn't test it myself. It should also be noted, that the park is running its "pay once, enjoy twice" campaign (Link) in April, which gives you a free second ticket to use at a later day except in July and August. Considering that you seem to usually aim for empty parks this shouldn't be a problem for you anyway. Make sure you keep your ticket after entering and get your second free ticket at Kaiserplatz (Berlin Plaza) from 12am or at the exits after 2pm. So whether you get a discounted ticket or not, you would be kinda saving money in April anway. Although in german, it's always a good idea to check this german fan forum thread for links to deals: https://www.phantafriends.de/topic/264-phantasialand-verg%C3%BCnstigte-karten-sonderaktionen/?page=39

Thx for pointing this out. The name simillarity totally got me. I did some digging and for the sake of completeness and to get some source in here, i found this official document from Europa Park about the rollercoaster restaurant. https://corporate.europapark.com/en/presse/nachricht/datum/2011/03/16/die-weltneuheit-foodloop-im-europa-park-1/?type=2

^the rollercoaster restaurant in vienna bought the concept of the rollercoaster restaurant. The first rollercoaster restaurant was installed at Europa Park. As stated above the company is owned by Michael Mack.

The company is owned by Mack. They also developed the rollercoaster restaurant. I wouldn't hold your breath, that would require so much time for loading / unloading, families wouldn't be able to participate together, you couldn't take anything with you, yadda yadda. Pretty much the antithesis of the typical "destination theme park attraction". Yeah capacity would certainly be a problem. Though not beeing able to take stuff with you at Universal Parks is nothing new.

Couldn't find a thread so here it is .. Mad Mack has developed the worlds first loop for karts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOcx2-Jo24o Quick summary for the lazy - Drivers are held in seat by "special security belts" - Go-Karts enter guide rails - MackManiac e-kart only - "At special intersections you have the choice to follow our accelaration paths leading to our attractions" - registered for patent approval - "[..] there is an electronically controlled barrier installed at the beginning of each acceleration path leading to the actual attraction, which ensures that only one kart is driving through the attraction at a time." Full Website Quote: Mario Kart @Nintendoland anyone? Source / Official Website

Europa Park has released its visitor numbers for the 2017 season. The park increased its numbers once again (+100k) and had a total 5,6 million guests in 2017. German Source

and both use a system like you described as well. I linked two videos showing the transfer track in progress.

^ You can see the opened attractions during winter on the official park homepage: http://www.europapark.de/en/attractions/all-attractions Attractions that are closed during winter have a small text "closed during winter" below them. You can also select to only display attractions that are opened during winter at the top, though I guess you are probably interested in what is closed. Although Blue Fire is also mentioned to stay closed during winter I think it will open on some days if temperatures are high enough. Don't quote me on that though

Speaking of good news I just realized that it hasn't been mentioned here that Lady Moon (Huss Flipper) and Aqua Spin (Huss Top Spin) have been shut down since the 1st of August and the park has confirmed, that the rides will be removed from the park. Time consuming repairs and lack of parts have been given as reasons. German Source You may now continue with your love declarations for Merlin

The park currently offers pay once visit twice if you visit before May 15th, which you seem to do . You can finde more information on the official homepage (e.g. when the second tickets are valid and where you get them): http://www.phantasialand.de/en/park/tickets/pay-once-enjoy-twice/ If you are looking for one time tickets, some sites from the Netherlands and Belgium offer reduced tickets. I'm not sure though if these are valid for the mentioned pay once visit twice campaign. Also you might not be able to buy them from outside the respective country. Though maybe you can surpass these limitations with VPN. No guarantee though https://www.socialdeal.nl/deals/parkstad/phantasialand/entreeticket-voor-phantasialand-plus-1-gratis-ticket-op-te-halen-in-het-park-voor-een-volgend-bezoek-geniet-met-de-hele-familie-van-meer-dan-40-spectaculaire-attracties-en-adembenemende-shows-maastricht-parkstad/?ref=CQYN http://www.funticket.be/nl/ https://www.dagtickets.nl/

Come on.. at least read the last page or how many times do I have to comment this?

There were huge woodworm problems which were literally eating away at the supports and track and they spread a lot before there were noticed. That stupid rumor that has been around long before the closure of Colossos. It has been debunked by the CEO of Holzbau Cordes who is responsible for the wooden parts, in an interview January 2015, where he also named several counter measures. German Source Edit: Unless you have any other sources, which have not been named on german coaster forums???

The park has confirmed that Colossus won't open in the 2017 season. Quick Google translate: Original Source

I believe the unit conversions may be slightly wrong. 5 m/s is 11 mph. So the ride's speed is increasing from 11 mph to 24.6 mph. That's crazy that there's a drop on the lift hill. Gotta get that here in the states! You are indeed correct. I must have accidentally calculated mph first and put it into place for kmh and calculated the wrong mph from the wrong kmh. Edited my numbers accordingly.

Spoiler of #WhatsInTheTower following. The max velocity has been confirmed to be increased from 5m/s to 11/ms or 18km/h to 39,6 km/h or 11,2mph to 24,6mph Edit: Adjusted mixed up number as pointed out by thrillseeker4552 /Edit German Source Edit: Almost forgot to mention the other info of the article. The construction of the kids coaster "Der kleine Zar" has begun: The Sky-Fly "Kärnapulten" will open sometime during the year.

I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned here yet. Apart from the theming Kärnan will receive another change for the upcoming 2017 season. This affects the element in the tower, so stop reading here if you want to avoid spoilers. The drop inside the tower will be changed to a 'XXL' version with increased length and intensity according to park owner Mr. Leicht. This change will be temporary for now to see if it is not too intense for visitors. German Source (Paywall)

Michael Mack announced in an interview, that Project V will open in May/June 2017. German Source (22:15)

The Hotel-ERT for Klugheim has been extended for the winter season. All hotel guests get exclusive ride time on Taron and Raik in the morning from 10am to 11am, with the exception of the 25th of December. Source (German)

Heide Park announced "Ghostbusters 5D - Die ultimative Geisterjagd" for 2017 - an interactive Dark Ride. Don't ask me who the manufacturer is though ...

I tried looking for an English version, yet oddly I was only able to find the a German version for the ERT: http://www.phantasialand.de/de/hotels/klugheim-exklusiv/ Here is my basic translation of the interesting tidbits: I hope this helps to cheer you up a little after I was the one to shock you earlier. Just ask at the reception when you check in. So as DaveDowning already said, completely ignore Klugheim during normal opening hours. Most people agree that its better in the evening anyways. In the morning head for Winjas and Fantasy Area, then Chiapas (depending on weather) since those can get quite busy. Maybe do Black Mamba after that if times are ok and then just go for the less crowded attractions and do the rest on the next day. The kiddie rides are also usually less crowded. The park has a list of its attractions with height restrictions if you haven't seen it already: http://www.phantasialand.de/en/park/attractions-overview/ As Dave Downing already mentioned there is also Baby Switch, so one of the adults can stay with the kid(s), and the other can ride. When the one riding comes off the person that stayed with the kid(s) can directly skip the queue. Not sure if they do this on busy days of if at all, but try asking if you can take your daughter again if she fits ride restrictions. I was always curious if they let kids ride twice. You can also borrow buggies or bollis at guest services. More info here: http://www.phantasialand.de/en/park/be-our-guest-information/service/ I hope this helps.

^ it's highly unlikely that the park will become as big as Europa Park because of its location. On one side of the park there are residents living so the park can't expand there. On another side there is the highway. On the third and last side there is a natural reserve. The park has been trying to get a permission to expand onto the natural reserve area (under strict conditions, e.g. buying compensation areas) for more than 10 years now. Residents living close to the park, environmentalist, a garden club and some politicians have dragged the process on forever. At the moment it looks kinda positive, but when and if at all a expansion is happening is still unclear. The park has always had these problems (noise, height restrictions, space) and while it sometimes feels frustrating, I share the sentiment with others that these problems are what nurtured the creativity, which made the park so unique. But even if an expansion is happening, I would keep my expectations in check. The last public plans of Phantasialand spoke of an Aquapark and a concert hall on the new land as well as removing administration building from the park area. Yet these plans are now again quite old and the plans before that looked totally different. So nobody knows what will happen. For the next years it will most likely be replacement of old attractions (Temple of the Night Hawk / Hollywood Tour, Geisterrikscha) Speaking of the new construction area mentioned above: Depending on how much administration/maintenance they move the area can get a lot bigger than Klugheim. Although this has been mentioned before, I again want to to point to an interview with the Lead Designer of Phantasialand. He mentions there that the new area will be bigger/more expensive than Klugheim. Last but not least a PSA: On the 28th of October there is "Tag der Brühler" where everyone living in Brühl or going to school in Brühl can visit the park for free. Yes you read that right: Everyone! Not only will the park rammed, but also every moron who doesn't give a f*** can enter. You have been warned.

I guess you missed the post that started the whole speculation, which links to a Facebook post of the park saying something new is coming in 2017, and inside the old "Hello Spencer" hall (which you crossed out on your sketch) work has started?

Depends on what you are looking for. There are 3 main areas close to the center. Altstadt - Located next to the cologne cathedral and the Rhine river with lots of classic brewhouses and a few irish pubs. Zülpicher Straße - Lots of Bars and lots of students, since its located close to the university. Ringe/Friesenstraße/Belgian Quarter - Also lots of bars. Clubs can be found pretty much anywhere. Though this again pretty much depends on taste. All areas are easily reachable via tram/subway and only a couple of stops apart. I found this short english page on the cities website which you might wanna check out, though Altstadt isn't listed there (probably on an extra page). http://www.cologne.de/what-to-do/nightlife

In a recent german documentary about Mack the train for Dragon Gliders was revealed. Because I'm too lazy to take more than one screen you have to suffer through some German if you wanna see more (there is more) https://youtu.be/6rgyg0FN_yY?t=14m21s The whole documentary was really good, though I think most non-german speakers won't get much out of if it, so here are the interesting scenes, where you can look at the coaster: - The scene mentioned above @14:21 - Nerdy, naked coaster shots on rail without chassis @17:39 - Container loading @28:33

If you are there for more than one day I would say try everything non-kiddie you can. A few additions to flaffstar's points about non-coaster attractions: - Mystery Castle runs two settings: One short one in the morning and a longer, much better setting in the afternoon. They usually switch to the longer setting at around 2pm, so try to get on that one if you only have time to ride once. - Wakobato does not run on Sundays due to noise complaints of the near residents. It's quite boring so you won't miss much but if you do want to ride it, keep that in mind in case you are there on a Sunday. - River Quest is also a must in my opinion. Keep in mind though that you can get really(!) soaked on it if you are unlucky. - Tikal is easily overlooked, but is also quite fun. - Hotel Tartüff is a fun funhouse. - The entrances to Hollywood Tour and Temple of the Nighthawk are quite hidden and easily overlooked. Grab a map at the entrance. Do them together and Hollywood Tour first so you don't have to climb the hill again. - The shows are overall quite good, so if you like shows and got some time on your handy give them a try if you want. - Usual coaster tips: Try to ride first and last rows and see what you like better. Though Colorado should be ridden in the IMHO much better last row. As always before any visit: Try not to spoil yourself to much in advance. Oh and don't forget to get your coaster credits and bring some pics